Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Targets

1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than US$1 a day.
2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Progress

Number of people living on less than US$1 a day:

1990 - 1.25 billion
2004 - 980 million (641 million in the Asia Pacific)

At the current rate, 780 million people will remain on less than $1 a day by 2015, falling short of the target of 625 million.

Percentage of children living in developing countries who are underweight:

1990 - 33%
2005 - 27% (44% in the Asia Pacific)

At the current rate, 23% of children in developing countries will still be underweight by 2015, falling short of the target of 16.5%.

Business can contribute to MDG 1 by:

• Stimulate community development
  Source materials locally and provide local access to your products.
• Provide employment and wages
  Recruit locally and provide living wages.
• Stimulate local agricultural production
  Raise the productivity of crops and livestock to fight against hunger.
• Fight malnutrition
  Provide nutrition education and nutrient supplementation and fortification.
• Provide support for micro entrepreneurs
  Provide access to micro-finance and micro-insurance to stimulate small businesses.

Primer questions

• Can you develop new product and service offerings that benefit poor communities?
• Can you extend the distribution reach of existing products that will benefit the poor?
• How many people do you or your direct suppliers employ who formerly earned less than the equivalent of $2 a day?
• Can you provide affordable farming inputs that increase the productivity and sustainability of impoverished rural farmers?
• Could you work together with other companies, the host government and development bodies to develop a better local supply base for your business?
• Can you participate in public-private partnerships to increase access to clean water, energy and telecommunications?
• Can you develop banking and insurance products for the poor including micro-finance and mobile banking?
• Can you improve the efficiency with which poor people move and access goods and markets?
• Can you volunteer staff to undertake short-term secondments to share their business expertise with low-income communities?